Posts Tagged ‘sfeawards-workshop projects’

Search for Excellence Award Blog Posts (Listing by Project Category)

Monday, February 6th, 2012
IMG Search for Excellence

International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Awards

In early November, Monica David, the 2011 IMGC vice president, announced we would be sharing 18 blog posts about each of the Extension Master Gardener volunteer projects that received a 2011 International Search For Excellence Award. These projects were awarded among six project categories during the 2011 International Master Gardener Conference.

Blog Posts Created New National Recognition and Discussion Opportunities

This year, blogging about these award winning projects helped bring new recognition and understanding of the value of Extension Master Gardener volunteers through pageviews on this blog, shares through our Facebook page, and retweets on Twitter.

Many of these projects received kudos in the blog’s comments section and created opportunities for Extension Master Gardeners from different states to discuss and learn about how local programs are participating in similar or different ways across the United States. To make these blog posts easier to access and find by category, we’ve grouped the 2011 International Master Gardener Search For Excellence award winning blog posts by project category and listed them for you below.

As you work toward new volunteer projects this year, you may want to take another glimpse at these posts, share these with a friend, or perhaps add your insights to the comments sections for a particular project that applies or resonates most with you….or (hint, hint) perhaps these posts will encourage your local program to submit an application for the 2013 International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Awards!

Blog Posts by Project Award Category

Workshop attendees learn how to properly construct their own rain barrels in Macon, County Iowa

The next International Master Gardener Conference and Search for Excellence Awards will take place in 2013.  For more information on the next International Master Gardener conference, see the IMGC 2013 Website or Facebook page.

Karen Jeannette
eXtension Consumer Horticulture Content Coordinator

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2011 Search for Excellence Workshops Category Award Winner- 3rd Place

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Grow Your Own Food- New Castle County, Delaware

New Castle County Master Gardeners teach vegetable basics classes.

In 2009 and 2010, the New Castle County, Delaware Master Gardeners offered numerous Grow your own Food workshops and demonstrations, in varying formats to their community.

Back to Ba$ics: A workshop series that included Master Gardener vegetable gardening workshops, developed to help people learn skills that they could use to save money, expand their resources, and live more simply.

Summer Tomato Tasting Event:  Master Gardeners and Master Food Educators offered a shared event in August in the teaching gardens to educate the community in vegetable gardening, and vegetable preparation.

Home Gardener Workshop Series Offered in Spring and Fall: This series featured the following workshops:  Starting Vegetables from Seed, Grow your own Food, It’s the Berries, Backyard Composting, Open Houses in our Vegetable Teaching Garden, Putting Your Garden to Bed, Edible Landscapes, Sheet Composting, Growing Vegetables at Home, Plan Your Vegetable Garden for Maximum Yield, and Potato and Tomato Planting Demonstrations, also in our Teaching Garden.

In total, there were 15 workshops that focused on the Grow your own Food theme, and over three seasons, more than 300 workshop attendees.

The demonstration garden open house was a well-attended event.

Master Gardeners worked together with the Horticulture Agent to develop workshops responding to community need.  The topics that Master Gardeners developed as part of their workshops/demonstrations included:  site/soil preparation, composting, plant selection, seeds/transplants, tips for growing vegetables, companion planting, integrated pest management (IPM), fall gardening, harvest to table, growing berries, and putting your garden to bed.

Vist the New Castle County Master Gardeners website at http://ag.udel.edu/extension/ncc/MasterGardeners.php

 

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2011 Search for Excellence Workshops Category- 2nd Place Winner

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

Rain Barrel Workshops- Macon County Illinois

Workshop attendees learn how to properly construct their own rain barrels.

The Macon County Master Gardeners began planning the Rain Barrel Workshop in the summer of 2007. The first hour-long workshop was offered to Master Gardeners with the aim of perfecting a moderately priced and accessible project for individuals of all skill levels. The Master Gardeners began offering the workshop to the public and over 300 rain barrels have been constructed to date. Public interest has increased and there is currently a waiting list for classes! As word spread the Master Gardeners seized the opportunity to take their idea “on the road” and began teaching other Master Gardeners from nine separate counties not only how to construct the rain barrels, but how to host their own workshops. The Master Gardeners are expanding their program and co-taught a rain barrel presentation via teleconference throughout the state of Illinois in April 2011.

 

 

To learn more about the Macon County Master Gardeners visit their website at  http://web.extension.illinois.edu/dmp/maconmg/

 

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2011 Search for Excellence Workshop Category Award Winner- 1st Place

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Garden Smarter Program- Calvert County, Maryland Master Gardeners

The Calvert County, MD Master Gardeners received a first place Search for Excellence award in the Workshop Category at the recent International Master Gardener conference in West Virginia.

A Calvert County Master Gardener gives a hands-on demonstration on how to propagate plants.

The Garden Smarter program is a public education series of free interactive workshops and presentations for adults and children in Calvert County, Maryland. Calvert County is located on the Western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The Garden Smarter program works in partnership with the Calvert County Library and most of the programs are held at the centrally located main branch.

Our goals are to educate the community about various topics to promote positive environmental stewardship and to promote and expand our outreach programs.  Some of our workshops’ subject matter include: using integrated pest management, attracting pollinators and other beneficial insects, using native plants in the landscape, creating a wildlife habitat, gardening basics, building rain gardens, growing vegetables from seed, planning and preparing a home vegetable and herb garden, composting, preserving the harvest, making and using salad boxes and tables, building container gardens, landscaping with edible plants, extending vegetable gardens from spring to autumn, pruning, creating Bay friendly lawns, and preparing gardens for winter.

The partnership with the Calvert Library is an essential part of the success of Garden Smarter.  The library publicizes the series on its web page, through email notification, and in local newspapers.  The staff promotes the series throughout the season by distributing Garden Smarter brochures and setting up counter displays to interest library customers in gardening topics.

700 community members attend over 2 year period

The Garden Smarter series drew a total of 700 community members for the past three years, 2008-2010. The program has expanded each year from 7 to 19 sessions and the audience has increased from 26 to 353. The Garden Smarter Series has opened the door to many outreach activities for Calvert Master Gardeners including talks before school groups, community groups, garden clubs, and fraternal organizations.

Learning how to make salad boxes is a popular workshop at the Garden Smarter Series.

The Garden Smarter series has connected many homeowners to the Maryland Master Gardener Bay Wise Yard Certification Program and increased the interest in our annual plant sale.   After attending presentations about Bay Wise landscaping or vegetable gardening, people have come to the sale just to buy native plants, rain barrels, and salad boxes.

To learn more about the work of Calvert County Master Gardeners visit http://extension.umd.edu/gardening/mastergardeners/local/calvert/index.cfm

 

Written by Denise Moroney and Nancy Radcliffe, Calvert County, Maryland  Master Gardeners

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